Disclaimer: I don't own anything

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"

"It was worth a shot" I said holding the gun in place.

With a quick motion of his hand he flicked away the bullet that had paused right before his chest. It stuck in the wall.

"Well, now that you've got that silly idea off your chest why don't we sit down and have a nice talk. Then we can get down to, business." he said standing up and walking into the kitchen, "tea?"

"Ah'll make it," I said putting the gun back in it's holster, "that's if everything is still in the same place."

"All carefully preserved, I assure you." he said smiling at me as I opened the cupboards, "I did have plans to burn the place, but, it was worth more to me still standing."

"Ah fail ta see how that could be," I said pulling out two mugs that had been exactly where I expected them.

"Yes, well you never could see the big picture Rogue."

I glared at him, he smiled.

"I take it, it was you that chose this villa?"

"No. It was him. He lahked Italy. We lahked this place. We felt it gave us some privacy."

"Indeed." he said still smiling.

I ignored him. I ignored everything around us. It really was like nothing had changed. Everything was in the same place, maybe a little different, but only because of the passing of time. There were still toys lying about, ready for anyone to trip over them. His coat was still over one of the chairs.

He saw where I was looking and said, "like I said, carefully preserved."

I handed him a mug and walked back to the living room. He followed me and we sat.

"So," I said after taking a sip of the tea, "let's talk. What d'ya wanna know? Who sold ya out?"

"No. I can guess who that was and believe me, he'll pay. No, what I want to know is, how on earth did you recover from that coma?"

I smiled and put down the mug.

"Well, after yer friends left meh fer dead in that pool, ah wasn't really expectin' ta be makin a comeback. But what d'ya know, a few weeks later ah woke up in some fancy mansion, hooked up ta about a million machines. Ya see, what yer friends weren't able ta find out was that meh an Remy were gonna be havin' a meetin' with a very important man that day. And ah'm guessing that it was jus ma luck that he arrived on tahme."

"And this man, who was he?"

"A Professor," I said still smiling, " A Professor Charles Xavier. From what ah heard from him, ya two used ta be real good friends."

"Indeed," he almost growled, "and he saved you, did he?"

"Well he helped. It was mainly the Doctor, Hank McCoy. The Professor helped on a more, emotional level. Bu all in all, ah got better. So how d'ya know Chuck?"

"That isn't important. You mentioned that you were going to have a meeting with him. What about?"

"Stuff." he glared at me, "Ah'd be more willin' ta tell ya if ya told meh about ya and Xavier."

He put the mug down, stood up and walked to the window.

"Xavier also, tried to save me. A long time ago something terrible happened to me, my whole family was destroyed, murdered." he turned round to face me, "I think you can understand how that made me feel. I wanted, revenge. Charles, my long time friend, told me that it would accomplish nothing, that I would continue down this path until I would turn into the monster that had destroyed my own family. I of course didn't believe him, and I was angry that he would not help me."

"So ya broke his legs."

"Yes," he said turning to face me, "he told you?"

"Of course. Ya see, he told meh the same thing."

"Then you must see," he said sitting back down, "that we are both alike. We find ourselves in the same position."

"And that's where yer wrong. Cause Ah'm gonna stop. Ah'm gonna finish wit ya and ah'm gonna stop. Ah'll go back ta Xavier an' ah'll help him with his cause. But after ya Eric, ah'm done killin'."

"You think it's going to be that easy?" he said smiling.

"Yes."

"So now that I've told you my story, it's your turn. What were you and Charles going to discuss?"

"The government. Sure, me and, and him had our privacy, but it didn't mean where completely unaware of what was goin on. He found out that this Xavier could help us, that he was sympathetic ta people lahke us. So, we invited him here."

"And you trusted him?"

"Ah've trusted worse people."

We looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity, each of us daring the other to blink.

"Well," I said standing up, "ah believe that's all we have ta talk about, so if ya don't mind, ah'd lahke ta get this over with."

"Of course," he said standing up and picking up his sword, "but let's go outside. It's such a lovely day, I would hate to waste it."

He motioned to the open door that led out to the garden and the pool.

"Whatever, it's yer death."

I walked ahead of them pushing down open the door.

I had forgotten how breathtaking the view was. The acres of hills and forests that spread out in front of me, a person could get lost in that view. I brought my gaze down to the garden and looked at the outside dining area that was covered with ivy, allowing for some shade. I walked down the steps that led to it and saw the stretch of grass surrounded by flowers.

I saw the pool.

The sun was hitting off of it so brutally I thought I could see some movement in the pool.

As I shielded my eyes and moved closer to the edge I looked down into a pair of red and black eyes.

"Mama?"